Wir befinden uns in einer Welt, in der sich der Osten und der Westen in einer Art Kaltem Krieg befinden. Im Westen regiert eine Linie von Erbköniginnen, die sich auf die Abstammung von einem religiösen, ritterlichen König berufen, das Land Ynis. Es heißt, solange diese Frauen regieren, wird der Namenlose, repräsentiert von bösen Drachen, nicht zurückkehren. Im Osten hingegen sind Drachen Götter. Unsere wichtigsten Protagonistinnen sind Ead, eine Hofdame, die in geheimem Auftrag als eine Art Bodyguard für Königin Sabran von Ynis agiert, und Tané, eine junge Waise, die sich im Osten um eine Position als Drachenreiterin bewirbt. Dann geschehen Ereignisse, die daraufhin deuten, dass eine Zusammenarbeit von Ost und West unvermeidlich ist... Ich brauchte dringend eine Abwechslung von schwerer Kost und wollte ja eigentlich sowieso wieder mehr Fantasy lesen. Ich mag High Fantasy und Samantha Shannon schreibt moderne High Fantasy, also habe ich mich für dieses Buch entschieden. Eine ganze Zeit lang war ich besorgt, dass die Story darauf hinauflaufen würde, welche Religion die richtige ist, was ich für problematisch gehalten hätte. Tatsächlich wird der Glaube einiger Figuren sozusagen geradegerückt, doch die übergeordnete Botschaft dieser Geschichte ist Toleranz, was sich auch in der starken Repräsentation von queeren Figuren und People of Colour zeigt. Daher konnte ich mich mit der Darstellung des ohnehin wirklich interessanten Religionskonflikts anfreunden. Aufgrund der gefühlt inflationären Thematisierung von Drachen vor allem in YA-Fantasy ging ich mit einer gewissen Skepsis an das Buch heran, auch hier kann ich jedoch Entwarnung geben: Die Darstellung der Drachen und ihrer Beziehung zu Menschen ist weitestgehend kitschfrei. Die Geschichte ist eine sehr politische, unterfüttert von reichem World-Building. Es braucht eine gewisse Zeit, bis man die vielfältigen Charaktere zuordnen kann, zumal man im  Hörbuch ja nicht eben mal zurückblättern kann. Die zentrale Lovestory habe ich überhaupt nicht gefühlt, sie erschien mir persönlich überflüssig, störte mich jedoch auch nicht. Was mir sehr gut gefallen hat, war, dass es auch Charaktere gibt, die sich bis zuletzt nicht in Gut- oder Böse-Kategorien einordnen lassen. Die finale Auseinandersetzung ist nicht ganz unvorhersehbar, doch insgesamt hat mich dieses Buch gut unterhalten und mich in eine spannende Welt entführt. Die Sprecherin Liyah Summers gibt ihren Charakteren je nach Herkunft unterschiedliche Akzente, Ead beispielsweise spricht mit karibischem Zungenschlag, die Bewohner von Ynis eher in einem britischen, die des Ostens eher in einem amerikanischen Akzent. Das erleichtert durchaus die Charakterisierung und funktioniert gut.

I love long, epic fantasy novels and The Priory of the Orange Tree is one that’s been on my tbr for a while. While I really enjoyed parts of it, I’m left feeling a bit disappointed. The overall premise is promising and in the beginning, I really liked where the story was going. The writing is beautiful, the world-building is easy to follow and I especially loved the dragons. I was also very much intrigued by the political dynamics between the East and the West. In addition, the book features strong queer representation and many female characters in positions of power, which felt both refreshing and important. Nevertheless, this book frustrated me in two major ways. First, the pacing is terrible. There are too many time jumps and repetitive scenes. Oddly enough, scenes that would have been interesting to read (Tane’s trials) are skipped. Also, the middle part drags immensely, yet the final fight with the main villain is resolved in 9 pages??? The author spent more pages on describing night time routines than the final fight that we waited for the entirety of the book. WHY??? Secondly, the characters aren’t developed enough. Ead was the only character I truly connected with, which made it difficult to feel invested. Moreover, I really wanted to like the romance subplots, but in both couples, I found myself only liking one half of each couple. To sum it up, this books had much potential, which makes my disappointment so frustrating. The premise and the world building are strong, but I think the story really needed editing, both in terms of pacing and character development. 3.5 ⭐️

🍊𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬🍊 🐉𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐦𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧🐉 I saw someone say online that this book is comparable to LOTR, which initially convinced me to pick up this book ❤️🤭 And it certainly did not disappoint, wow!! The worldbuilding and plotline that the author has created is so deeply fascinating for its incredible complexity and intricacy - there is so much attention to detail, court politics and royal intrigue that hooked me from the beginning 😍👑 Although I was a frequent user of the glossary at the back in the first few pages, all the many different characters and plotlines were surprisingly easy to follow after that point, and I was totally in awe by this worldbuilding 🏔🐉This fantasy world is so diverse and richly crafted with so many different religions and cultures that felt reminiscent of real places around our world. There still seems to be so much history and lore to explore in this world for how beautifully extensive it feels, and of course I loved the many different characters and creatures we met along this journey: there were queens, warriors, pirates, mages, witches, and of course dragons!🐉🗡 The story is written from four perspectives in very divergent places of this world. There is Ead, who is a mage of the priory of the orange tree but is secretly protecting Queen Sabran of Inys; Loth, a young lord in Inys who embarks on a perilous quest; Niclays, who is an embittered alchemist in exile; and Tané, who has become a dragon rider of the Miduchi Clan 🍊🌊 I was intrigued by following all of these flawed and interesting characters, although if I had to pick a favourite it would probably be Ead! What I also loved was how all of these perspectives converged and intertwined at the end, meeting for the first time and putting their different views aside to fight against their mutual enemy 🐲 I must admit though that at the beginning it took me a little bit of time to get into the writing style and connect with the characters. After that, however, I was engrossed! The only other thing I can think to critique is the pacing of the novel. Towards the end, I felt like the climax of the story was a bit rushed considering the long build-up and slower pacing that there was before - it doesn't affect my opinion of the book massively, but I felt like the pacing could have been a little more balanced! ❤️ The last third of the book was my favourite by far; although I highly enjoyed the first part, I was flying through it towards the end because I was so captivated 🥹 To conclude, this was such a brilliant epic high fantasy book that really stands out for its intricate worldbuilding and well-written plot! 📚🐉If you love epic adventures, dragons, reading from multiple perspectives, both exciting and heartfelt moments and a captivating plot, then I really recommend that you give this book a chance! ❤️🍊 I award this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️ (4,5) stars and am interested in reading the prequels! My Bookstagram: @1booknoodle

It took me less than a week, 5 days to be exact, even though I had some difficulties to get into the story. That might have been due to me reading the book in English being a non-native. I had to look up a whole lot of words, which is not usually the case. Is that bad? I think not - it turns out most of those were versions of names for things not being used anymore. So I extended my vocabulary quite a bit I'd like to believe. Also it adds to the overall atmosphere of the language which I found to be - once being accustomed to it - intriguing and fit for the kind of story and historic state (something like Middle Ages into the Early Renaissance).The narration in the first half is rather slow or thorough—perhaps even a little too much so, which became even more apparent to me as I reached the end of the book and felt that it rushed through the very events that almost all of the characters had been working toward the entire time. And this is my top most critique - it felt a bit like that for the sake of the books overall length (and/or maybe the time it took writing it) the second half fell a bit short.Overall I can wholeheartedly recommend reading it. I've become very attached to almost all of the characters, found the world very believable and was really invested how events and the overarching story would unfold.

Eine Sache, auf die ich bei Fantasy Büchern besonderen Wert lege ist das Wordbuilding. Die Autorin erwähnte, dass sie 3 Jahre an diesem Buch, bzw dieser Welt gearbeitet hatte und das merkt man auch. Das Worldbuilding ist sooo interessant und ausführlich gestaltet! Es ist eine tatsächliche Welt mit unterschiedlichen Kulturen und Bräuchen welche sich ineinander ergänzen aber auch widersprechen. Man konnte sich total in dieser Welt verlieren! Vor allem Ead und Sabrans Geschichte haben mein Interesse geweckt und ich konnte kaum erwarten das nächste Kapitel in ihrer POV zu lesen! Das Buch hat mehrere unterschiedliche Erzähler welche alle jeweils in einer anderen Region spielen, was der Welt sehr viel mehr tiefe gegeben hat! Jedoch hatte ich das Gefühl, das einige Erzähler etwas zu kurz gekommen sind während sich für die anderen Zeit genommen wurde. Ich kann mir jedoch vorstellen, dass im zweiten Buch die fehlenden Dinge wieder aufgegriffen werden. Ich genoss das Buch wirklich sehr!!

It took me like 200 pages to really get into the story but then it was impossible to put away. The characters had great depth and development throughout the story and the world building was so detailed and well thought out. Not to mention the casual queerness throughout the story with a multitude of different love stories that all had their own kind of heartbreaking tragedy.

Ich hab eine Weile gebraucht um erst einmal in das Buch hineinzufinden. Eine gaaaaanze Weile. Ich wette, die Dicke würde um die Hälfte sinken, wenn nicht dauernd alle Charakere mit ihrem Titel genannt werden müssen. Nichtsdestotrotz gab es viele Stellen in welchen meine Augen quasi an die Seiten klebten und ich meinen Blick zwingen musste, nicht weiter nach unten zu skippen, um auch ja den ganzen Werdegang mitzubekommen. Die Verschiedenheit der Hauptcharaktere war erfrischen und eine gute Wahl. Es gab einige WTF Momente, auch Momente in denen ich das Buch schließen und kurz erst einmal durchatmen musste, ehe ich weitermache. Am Ende hat mir jedoch etwas gefehlt. Für mich was es nicht zufriedenstellen, da bin ich ganz ehrlich. Es gab den großen Showdown… und das war irgendwie. Aber Allem im allem ein gutes Buch. :)

Okay, let’s be real — this book is huge, but it was absolutely worth it. I totally get why some people say it’s confusing at first, but I honestly didn’t find it that bad. The world is just super detailed — there’s so much going on in the beginning, so many names, directions (East, West, South), and new characters. But once you get past the first 150–200 pages, everything clicks. You start to understand the world, and from there it’s just amazing. I absolutely loved most of the characters. My favorite is definitely Ead Duryan — she’s strong, loyal, and just genuinely such a good person. And her relationship with Queen Sabran? I was obsessed from the moment I noticed the first hints. They’re honestly one of the sweetest, most natural couples I’ve read in fantasy. Every scene with them made me so soft 🥹 Tané really grew on me. At first, I didn’t care much for her, but she developed a lot as a character, and by the end I fully understood and respected her. Now, Niclays Roos... I just couldn’t with him. He had moments that showed a bit of heart — like his love for Jannart, which was clearly genuine — but overall, his character went downhill for me. His sudden change of heart near the end didn’t make much sense. It felt more like a plot move than real development. Chassar was amazing — loyal, kind, and always there for Ead. I adored his character. And I loved seeing how the South and their version of the truth about Cleolind actually represented real strength and womanhood, while the West had twisted it into that “damsel in distress” myth. That part was brilliant and powerful. The whole story about the Priory being betrayed by their own leader broke my heart — especially what happened to Ead’s mother — but it made Ead’s rise to leadership so satisfying. She truly deserved it. Also, I love how the book talks about unity despite differences — all these regions and traditions finally putting their differences aside to face one common enemy. It’s a strong message, and Shannon handled it beautifully. The pacing can be slow at first, but once you’re in, you don’t want to stop. I read the 800 pages in just seven days, which is fast for me, and that says a lot about how immersive this story is. The ending felt a little open, but I’m totally fine with that now, especially knowing that Samantha Shannon plans to write another book set after this one. It makes the ending feel intentional and hopeful. So yeah — I loved it. Epic worldbuilding, emotional depth, powerful themes, strong women, and a romance that actually feels real. It’s easily one of my favorite fantasy books ever.

The start was slow and the rapid POV changes made it hard to get it all together. I really appreciated the very own voice of each POV–although having the same style, they were very unique. Personally preferred Ez and Sabran in late game! The middle part was slow as f*ck, but it all came together nicely. ***************** MINI-SPOILER ***************** I doubted that there will be heroes left by the time the Nameless One supposedly raised, since people are unalived left and right 🤣

Puh, war das ne schwere Geburt. Ich habe dieses Buch gelesen nachdem ich die erste Hälfte auf Deutsch gelesen hatte, es furchtbar fand und herausfinden wollte ob das an der Übersetzung liegt. Ich kann jetzt feststellend sagen: Ja, es lag an der Übersetzung. Ein paar Beispiele, die in der Deutschen Version zur Verwirrung beigetragen haben, weil ich so viele lustige Notizen habe, die sonst verloren wären: Der Unterschied zwischen "ladies of the bedchamber" und "ladies of the privy chamber" ist sehr wichtig. Ead steigt von einem ins andere auf und das verändert ihren Status am Hof. Im Deutschen sind beides "Kammerfrauen". "Dawn cracked like a herons egg over Seiiki." = "Der Morgen schimmerte fahl wie das Ei eines Fischreihers über Seiiki." Nein, der Morgen BRACH über Seiiki wie ein Ei, wie schimmert ein Ei denn fahl? "Tané washed her hands in it and placed a drop on her lips." = "Tané wusch sich die Hände und spritzte sich einen Tropfen auf die Lippen." Wie soll sie sich denn einen Tropfen auf die Lippen spritzen? Wenn sie sich Wasser ins Gesicht spritzt, landet das im ganzen Gesicht und nicht nur auf den Lippen. "Saint, he prayed, let me not piss myself at the end." Erklärung: er sieht gerade Soldaten auf sich zukommen, die ihn wahrscheinlich abholen um ihn zu hängen. Er ist außerdem ein verbitterter Alkoholiker. Was denkt er im Deutschen? "Heiliger, betete er, lass nicht zu, dass ich mich am Ende selbst beschmutze." ??? "Neben ihnen stand eine Flasche Wein aus der großen Küche, zusammen mit einem Teller mit Gewürzen, Käse und frischem Brot." Ein Teller mit losen Gewürzen? Und wie heißt es im Original? "A dish of spiced cheese and fresh bread." SPICED!! Der Cheese ist spiced, wie wird denn aus spiced Cheese Gewürze UND Käse?? "Her skin had dried, leaving her cooler and clear-headed" = "Ihre Haut war noch trocken, ihr war nicht mehr so heiß, und sie hatte einen klaren Kopf." Warum noch trocken? Woher kommt das noch? Sie hat geschlafen und ist währenddessen getrocknet, woher kommt das noch?? Ihr ist nicht mehr heiß und sie hat einen klaren Kopf WEIL ihre Haut getrocknet ist, woher kommt denn das noch??? "They were shielded from the brunt of the heat and their collarbones were jeweled with sweat." = "Sie waren vor der schlimmsten Hitze geschützt, aber in den Mulden über ihren Schlüsselbeinen sammelte sich bereits der Schweiß." JEWELED with sweat. Mit Schweißtropfen benetzt, schweißgebadet, was auch immer. Wie tief müssten deren Schlüsselbeine sein, damit sich darin der Schweiß SAMMELT? Virginals = Virginal Virginals = Harpsicord Virginals = Cembalo Virginals = Tastencembalo Ja mei, such dir halt eins raus und benutz das. "Spiced blackberry pie with a fluted crust." = "Gewürzte Brombeer-Kuchen mit kannelierter Kruste." Fluted heißt gerillt oder geriffelt. Kanneliert ist ein Begriff aus der Architektur und bezeichnet die Furchen in einer Säule. Sowas kann sich doch niemand mehr ausdenken. So, jetzt zu der eigentlichen Geschichte. Es gibt immer noch ein paar Logiklücken oder kleine Momente die mich gestört haben, aber die konnte ich ohne die komische Sprache und das ständige doppelt lesen von Sätzen viel besser akzeptieren und ignorieren. Ich würde das Buch auf jeden Fall weiterempfehlen an Leute, die große epische Geschichten mit High Stakes, vielen Charakteren und einer gut durchdachten Welt mit viel politischer Intrige mögen. Die Themen, die ich in meiner Rezi zur Deutschen Übersetzung positiv hervorgehoben habe, gelten weiterhin. Das Worldbuilding ist großartig, die Charaktere haben Tiefe (besonders mein Boy Niclays, der verbitterte alte schwule Alchemist) und es werden tiefgründige Themen wie theologische Differenzen und weibliche Selbstbestimmung aufgegriffen, die wichtige Teile der Geschichte sind ohne mit dem erhobenen Zeigefinger zu wackeln. Aber, bitte, wenn dann auf Englisch. (Und noch ein Tipp an alle Hörbuch-Hörer, die Version gesprochen von Liyah Summers würde ich nicht empfehlen. Die Akzente reichen von Yorshire English über Südamerikanisch bis zu Jamaikanisch ohne wirkliche Übereinstimmung und sie kann ihr Stimme leider nicht sehr gut verstellen. Der abgebrühte, kompetente Freibeuter Captain Harlow klingt wie Patrick aus Spongebob)

phewww that took long The story was so well thought out i literally forgot i was reading and not watching smth I got attached to the characters over time. The 4 POV thing was really good, i was scared it would confuse me, i didnt luckily nilcays roos they can never make me hate you </3

Okay so. It took more than a year to finish this book. It's MASSIVE. The first 200 pages, roughly, are mainly worldbuilding. It's fantasy, so I expected as much. Sadly, I was just really lost sometimes, which made it harder to continue and forced me to have major breaks in between. Nonetheless, the last 150 pages were epic, and I loved all the representations in this book. A queer, feminist book that I can recommend if one is better equipped with a map and more patience.

Between all the books I’ve read recently, this has been something else. It has such a deep, grand and well thought through world, that it has Eragon or LotR vibes due to its complexity. There are so many single strands that slowly but surely come together in over 845 pages. I loved so many plots of the different characters, but have to admit sometimes I lost track of the storyline or who was who again, bc it’s just sooooo much. Still looking forward to the other books of this universe.

I actually, sincerely hope that this isn’t too mean. I’m just saying my opinion, so don’t come for me. I apologize for any mistakes with grammar and spelling as well at punctuation.English is not my first language. And I cannot let go of using commas. It is in my nature, and my mother tongue. ————————— ⚠️This review may contain spoilers.⚠️ ————————— First off, if you’re reading this book for the dragons, then DON’T. —— This book was not purely a waste of time, emphasis on not purely, because it partially was and is. The first 450 or 500 pages of this brick of a book could’ve easily been shortened to 200 and made this less boring. Basically everything that happened felt fabricatedly elongated to me and reminded me of watered down juice to make more juice. Works, but does not always make the juice better. While I can think of books that could have benefited from this, this one wasn’t one of them. This is watered down orange juice. (pun intended) It was hard at first, to actually remember the names of the main characters when constantly switching around the entirety of the world like going from Bogota to Jakarta (two cities that are almost antipodal to each other). Even at page 150 I had hardly grasped the protagonist names, let alone those of the side character, because I had at that point barely had time to adjust to any of them. It almost had me glad of certain deaths, because “Who the hell even was that?” and “ls this name supposed to be ringing any bells?” were so reoccurring that I was beginning to loose faith in myself, who usually has no problems remembering names. And don’t get me started on the unlikability of some of the protagonists at the beginning. Tané? Selfish. Niclays? Selfish. Sabran? Selfish. The only person I liked to read about, whose name even felt somewhat of a fresh breath of air (dare I exaggerate) was Ead(az). Why even have so many protagonists? One of the first things we learned in German class in middle school was to not have too many main characters because it’s hard to keep track of them all and give them all a personality and development. This is exactly what’s going on here: Protagonists lacking a personality and development. Apart from that, I felt like so many (side-)characters, whose name I had finally learned, were just discarded. Why did I learn Turosa’s name? And the names of even half the ladies of the privy chamber. God, let me stay strong. In German I’d say, and did say, “Ich mache drei Kreuze, wenn ich dieses Buch durchgelesen habe.” I was ready to DNF this book and put it on my shelf of shame, and then finally, at around page 450, something somewhat interesting happened. And I must be honest, it got better from there. At least for some time. Then, it went downwards again. Making Kalyba be everyone and everything felt almost lazy to me. Kinda like when I don’t know the answer to an exam question and then write the first best thing I can think of to at least not have it be unanswered. It’s giving “I wanna get it over with and be done with writing this.” And don’t even get me started on the lack of purpose of the last 10 to 15 pages. The end would (in my opinion) have fit better after defeating the Nameless one. Then a nice clean cut and done. boom. Anyway, to summarize my review: The book had potential, a great thought behind it, but it was somewhat butchered. It felt too long, like it was drawn out but to make it longer, not better. And then rushed at the end to not make it any longer. The entire fight seemed like the author didn’t want to take the time to go more in depth and the Jump from the nameless one falling to back on land seemed to be days apart and like a time skip in a fanfic when the author didn’t feel like writing a canon scene and just skipping it. Overall, the plot turns that seemed too convenient most of the time, caused a lack of tension in this book. When normally, I don’t want to put a book down because it is so captivating, I could barely pick this one up. It felt like I wasn’t making progress in getting through the book and the plot didn’t progress either, at least for the first 500 pages. I really don’t enjoy giving a book less than 3 stars. I know that authors spend a long time writing and editing and rewriting their books, and that it’s a Labour of love for them. And no one has to read a book they don’t like, but I think with a book of this size, 800 pages, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. 1/5 stars.

I love the idea of a secret order killing dragons in combination with people who are dragon riders. Mix it with politics and great worldbuilding and it would be perfect. Well, at least the last two were fulfilled. But the priory? Wasted potential about their own politics and structures. Why exactly do they hate all dragons so much? Ignorance or something more? We never know. But most importantly to me was the negligence of the dragons. They are nothing more then a fancy way to travel. Gosh we get a perspective of a dragon rider and we get to know nothing about their dragons except they can speak and need water to survive. Wow. I would have liked to get to know more about their lost abilities, what they still can do. Their history. Or at least give them a personality 😅 The writing is amazing, the worldbuilding too. But we get descriptions of stuff that wouldn’t need to be described in detail and miss important points instead.

Die Welt, die die Autorin hier erschaffen hat, ist wirklich großartig! Es gibt viele verschiedene Charaktere und vier POVs aus der die Story erzählt wird. Dadurch wird es zum einen am Anfang schwierig den Überblick zu behalten und die Verbindungen aller zu verstehen. Zum anderen wird die Story auch groß aufgezogen und alles fügt sich irgendwann zusammen. Mir hat die Geschichte wirklich sehr viel Spaß gemacht und ich wollte gar nicht, dass es endet. Ead und Tané waren tolle starke Frauen, die sich mega weiterentwickelt haben. Tané ist eine Drachenreiterin und wir begleiten sie auf ihrem Weg in der Ausbildung. Ead ist undercover am Hof der Königin Sabran, um diese zu schützen. Dabei ist sie auch eine Magierin, die eigentlich aus der Priory des Orangenbaums stammt. Auch die männlichen Charaktere haben einiges zu bieten: Loth und Roos. Wobei ich Roos die meiste Zeit einfach doof fand anders als Loth👀 Für mehr als 3,5 Punkte haben mir hier definitiv die Drachen mit mehr Anteil an der Geschichte gefehlt - hier hätte ich mir einfach mehr gewünscht. Außerdem kam der Feind, der große Wyrm, erst 50 Seiten vor Schluss zum Zug, 20-30 Seiten Kampf und das wars. Mir war das etwas zu flach und zu schnell abgehakt… dafür wurde dann halt doch 750 Seiten genau darauf vorbereitet👀

This is a long book, indeed. But it didn’t feel like it. I enjoyed the four different narrators. Liked some more, some less. It still felt like everything is important for the story. The worldbuilding was good and I liked how we jump from one part of the world to the other, but everything is connected. Oh and of course I appreciated that the leaders are mostly women and nobody questioned their competence because of their sex. A dream. If there were a second book already, I would read it right away.

This is a long book, indeed. But it didn’t feel like it. I enjoyed the four different narrators. Liked some more, some less. It still felt like everything is important for the story. The worldbuilding was good and I liked how we jump from one part of the world to the other, but everything is connected. Oh and of course I appreciated that the leaders are mostly women and nobody questioned their competence because of their sex. A dream. If there were a second book already, I would read it right away.

Das Buch ist mega, nur zum empfehlen. Tolle Geschichte mit einer neuen Welt und Charakteren. Leider aber an manchen Stellen zu langatmig & am Schluss viel zu kurz. Der „Krieg“ wird in den letzten 50 Seiten leider einfach nur noch schnell fertig geschrieben. Ebenso gab es keine unerwarteten Überraschungen / Ereignisse mehr.

ENDLICH hab ich dieses Buch geschafft. Durchaus ein Epos, der wirklich viel zu erzählen weiß und dies auch gut macht. Wie es aber nun mal bei einem Epos manchmal so ist, ist das Große Ganze oft wichtiger, als die einzelnen Charaktere an sich und das hat mich persönlich zu sehr auf Distanz gehalten. Ein Kritikpunkt ist, dass Kämpfe ein wenig zu verwirrend geschrieben sind, weil unbedingt eine bestimmte Art von schöner Umschreibung beibehalten werden will. Momente, die klar beschrieben werden sollten, werden durch Symbolik und Metaphorik in eine Richtung gedrängt, der man nur schwer folgen kann. Aber Kämpfe sind auch einfach schwer. Rest war wie gesagt echt gut, hat mich nur nich gecatched. Wer Bock auf einen Fantasy Epos mit geilen Drachen und Legenden hat, wird hier auf jeden Fall belohnt.

more of a 3,5 tbh So. it’s done. ITS FINALLY DONE!!!! this book both put me in a reading slump and pulled me back out of it again. To be quite honest it bored me a lot of the time, especially the first half of the book but the second half and all the plots coming together kind of made up for it. Did it have to be this long? maybe not. honestly would have preferred it otherwise but here we are. at one point i was honestly just bound to reading it solely by my spite… Some of the histories and riddles and intricacies are still confusing to me and i don’t really care for understanding and knowing everything but sometimes it frustrated me a little and felt a little useless. I am also extremely confused about what Tanés ending meant to convey, i probably missed some important information that would make me understand or maybe I’m just tired but for now i don’t know what to make of it. Also did not rly care that much for the main plot of killing the nameless one… i should have probably cared but i kinda didn’t. yikes. there were just so many side plots and little humps that made me groan and sigh. ANYWAY. now to what i liked. I haven’t read a book with this many povs that switch that often in so long i truly can’t remember but it payed off in the end, i loved seeing it all wrapped up and connected. My favorite part were definitely the relationships and characterizations, they were done extremely well and made it immediately apparent who’s pov it was which is a really hard thing to accomplish. My favorites are probably Ead (same as everyone else lol) and Tané (i was listening to the last great american dynasty for most of her chapters and oh god how it makes sense for her….). I have to confess i’m kind of a sucker for the whole history repeats itself through the descendants of it, that was done rly well and I’ve read some people didn’t think it was done realistically but i liked it. Maybe an important side note…i mainly started this book bc i was told there would be a wlw couple. now someone tell me why it took over 400 pages for us to get there? talk about slowburn..AND THEN TO TAKE THEM AWAY SO QUICK FOR EVEN MORE PAGES…i’m a bit bitter abt it but they mean the world to me and they kept me reading for most of the book. As always, I have many many thoughts and can’t hope to put them all down but this will do for now… IM A WINNER I FINISHED ITTTTTT

Okay DAMN. Going into this book I didn't really know anything about it, except that it has dragons in some capacity and is absolutely massive. I've had this on my shelf for about a year because I was kinda scared of the commitment. So if you're also scared of the commitment, let me tell you, it's worth it. It took me about 100 pages to not be confused anymore and get the names straight. By page 250 I felt like the exposition was over and the plot had been set up. And from there on I was INVESTED. Pros: - The characters and their arcs really had enough room to develop - The story felt well-rounded - The world building was soo detailed - It felt long yes, but for the most part not unnecessarily so Cons: - Some parts could have been left out, especially the Tolkien-esque stories in the story and some repetitions - There are never enough dragons In summary: Be brave and you will be rewarded with 800 pages of amazing fantasy.

I enjoyed every minutes of this book! Definite recommendation. Following Ead, a young dragon slayer, Tané, a young dragon rider, Sabran, Queen of a tousand-year-old empire, Loth, Sabran's childhood best friend, and Niclays Roos, alchemist and enemy of Sabran on their quest to kill the Nameless One (Voldemort the dragon), the story is rich in colors, similarities to our own world and history, and lore. The story takes a good 500 pages to build up, and the next 150 seem almost too short for the dramatic pinnacle of this fascinating story. The final 30 or so pages are left for a short, bittersweet and satisfying end for all main characters. Along the way, the story includes sometimes wholesome, sometimes less so queerness, but always portrays it as something normal - which is fascinating given the fact that it takes place in a world where same-sex love is forbidden. I personally would have liked the climax of the story to be a bit longer than a (what felt like) sub-clause, but I really enjoyed all the lore and world building before.

So close to giving 5 stars - but where were the dragons?! The cover promises dragons and the book doesn’t really deliver dragons. That being said, I immensely enjoyed the story. Most of the main protagonists are badass women with strong minds and still an openness to change and different thoughts (even if it takes a while to get there). It also doesn’t happen that often in fantasy that there are middle-aged protagonists. If read here and there that pacing was an issue for some; it wasn’t for me but I only got around to read a few chapters at a time so I was always looking forward to get back into the story. Having read the books in plot chronological order, it was nice referencing back to the history that I had read before, like Easter eggs. I can understand why this was first and then some mentioned historical figures got their own and fully fleshed-out story. But again, where were the dragons? (#0 has way more dragon center-stage so I like that one better!)

Another beautifully written book that was set in an interesting world, following multiple people. Samantha Shannon has done it again after ADoFN, and managed to flesh out another book I couldn't wait to read. It was very interesting with my knowledge from the prequel going into this book and seeing how everything fit in. The ending seemed to be rushed after the epic high point, just missed a little sweet spot. Rating: 4.5

The only criticism I have is that it took some time to get into because the world building is quite intense and you dive right into it. But after about 200 pages you get attached to each person and I found myself excited about all the chapters and not just chapters about certain characters. It wrapped up very nicely at the end and plot twists managed to surprise me throughout the whole book. Loved it, look past its length and pick it up!

I think it takes amazing skill to keep a story interesting and engaging for 800 entire pages! very lovely world, well-written and nuanced characters. Usually with fantasy stories, the beginning is very tedious to get through until you get fully introduced to the new world and can actually enjoy it. But not with this one! I was hooked from the very first page. I truly can't think of anything I would change about this book. It is the perfect embodiment of why I love reading. Cannot wait to read more from this world. Which is what I am going to do now: On to "A Day of Fallen Night"!